Paterson’s Porn Tax Sparks Criticism, Hilarity

February 16, 2009

Along with his previously described suite of new taxes, we learn, Governor Paterson wants to tax porn. Being a forward-looking sort, he is only targeting porn downloaded from the internet, which may drive patriots to return to skin mags of the sort found in the grottier newsstands. We wonder if Paterson has considered the legendary adaptability of porn enthusiasts, who may resort to creating their own iMovies of short, free clips from adult entertainment vendors, or whether he has considered such unintended consequences as the flight of such vendors from New York to such porn-tax havens as Delaware.

Adding to the enlightened debate is Conservative Party chairman Mike Long, who chooses to argue with the Governor, not on sound libertarian grounds, but because “By taxing [porn] you’re legitimizing it… If you’re taxing it, how can it be wrong?” The chairman obviously hasn’t polled his political base. Elsewhere Long adds, “it’s encouraging the citizens of this state to download it,” which conflicts with every Milton Friedman taught us.

Patrons of a MySpace forum are expectedly unsympathetic to Paterson’s tax. “The blind pervert wants to tax Internet porn,” fumes one. “I promise you the hypocrit won’t be taxing braile porn.” “How on earth do they plan to enforce that with bit torrent and other such things allowing you to get it all for free?” asks another. (Someone suggests he may try a tax on bandwidth usage.) One Cato Institute type argues, “porn stars get paid alot of money to take those facials!!1!”

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